Chapter 23
On the couch at home, Sora was hugging their mother tightly.
"It's okay, I'm fine now..."
Their mother comforted her while gently patting her back. Then, she turned her gaze firmly to Kaito.
"Umm... Kaito, right?"
Kaito blinked in confusion at the question, until he remembered he was still using the appearance he'd taken to infiltrate the protestors.
In a second, he rushed to his room, changed the hidden form settings, and returned to the living room.
"Yeah, it's me."
"Amazing! You can change your appearance? What else can you do? I thought you could only have one ability in the real world..."
Despite her tear-stained red eyes, Sora perked up immediately and returned to her usual self.
But their mother shot her a look that made her fall silent again, refocusing on Kaito.
"It's good that you helped, but don't be so reckless next time. Those people have strange abilities... What if someone finds out who you are and holds a grudge?"
"Don't worry. My disguise ability is very advanced."
Kaito replied calmly. His mother didn't seem fully convinced but sighed and decided to trust him.
"Brother... why didn't you save everyone?"
"Save everyone?"
Kaito repeated the question, puzzled.
"I mean, you helped Mom and knocked them all out easily, right? So... why not help the rest of the stores too?"
Kaito sighed and gently ruffled her hair.
"I'm not a hero. I only stopped them because they might have caused trouble once I took Mom out. And why didn't I try? Because... deep down, they're right."
Sora, who had been trying to dodge his hand without success, froze and looked at him in surprise.
"They're right? They're taking people hostage!"
"I don't approve of their methods. But they... they're the ones who are right. The government is trying to control them like they're something different. They can't ignore the Lords, but they can't control them either."
"Then, what do you suggest?"
His sister asked with genuine curiosity, but Kaito just shook his head.
"I don't know. I just hope they find a peaceful solution."
After saying that, Kaito went to his room. It was already late, and he needed rest.
---
The next morning, during breakfast, Kaito was once again caught off guard by an unexpected question from his sister.
"Why wouldn't this be my real appearance?"
He asked as if it were nothing.
"You can change your appearance, right? So yesterday... you could've returned to your real form without going upstairs. But you did go. I think you went up, changed back to your real form, changed your form again, and then came back down looking like this."
"What are you, a detective now? Of course this is my real form."
He brushed off her suspicions like they were absurd, returning to his meal.
"Hmm... let's say it is."
Though she wore a carefree expression, Kaito was sweating bullets on the inside.
'Since when did she get so sharp…?'
He could only hope she didn't dig any deeper. And, luckily for him, she didn't. They finished breakfast in peace.
"Kaito, school goes back to normal next week. So make sure you catch up on your studies."
His mother reminded him as he went up the stairs.
"Yay! I haven't seen Mikan in so long!"
He heard his sister say excitedly.
---
When he appeared in his territory, countless notifications popped up in front of Kaito.
[Your Hellhound has killed a goblin]
[You gained +5 XP, +15 gold, +claw]
[Your Hellhound has killed a wild mole]
[You gained +5 XP, +10 gold]
[Your Hellhound has killed a black wolf]
[You gained +10 XP, +20 gold, +leather, +wolf meat]
[Your Hellhound has killed a...]
[You gained +10 XP...]
[...]
And so on, dozens more. Fortunately, the system was intuitive and responded to the Lord's intent, so Kaito simply thought of closing them all, and the notifications vanished instantly.
Some important ones remained:
[You've conquered the Goblin Territory]
[Your territory increases by 1000 meters]
[You received an Iron Chest]
[You've conquered the Wild Mole Territory]
[Your territory increases by 200 meters]
[You received an Iron Chest]
[You've conquered the Black Wolf Territory]
[Your territory increases by 300 meters]
[You received an Iron Chest]
[...]
And so it continued.
Most chests were iron, only two were bronze. It made sense, considering how easily they were conquered and Kaito's current power.
He opened them all. Most contained rather useless stuff: blueprints for tools, buildings, or armor pieces. But he also found a few useful items:
• A Kobold summoning tower
• 5 amulets (2 for defense, 3 for attack)
• 2 armor pieces: a chestplate and pants, completing his gear
And, of course, gold and experience. Lots of gold ando experience.
Altogether, he reached level 16. His updated stats were:
---
[Name]: Takayama Kaito / Lucifer
[Race]: Original Speed Demon
[Title]: Lord of the Territory
[Level]: 16 (120,000 / 500,000)
[Base Stats]:
HP: 30,000 (3000 × 10)
MP: 100 (10 × 10)
Strength: 800 ((30 + 30×10) + 200)
Agility: 7500 (55 + 20×100)
Constitution: 890 (49 + 20 + 20×10)
[Skills]: Original Speed Demon (MAX), Speedforce (MAX)
[Stat Points]:
[Skill Points]:
[Gold]: 530,800
---
The new chestplate and pants increased his strength and constitution. In addition, each new level gave him 10 points: he allocated 30 to agility, 20 to constitution, and 10 to strength. His skills added multipliers, and finally, the "Superior's Strength" amulet gave him an additional strength bonus.
His current speed let him run over 16,000 km/h, and his strength equaled lifting about 5.5 tons. With that, he could cross the so-called Black Forest, with the size of China, n under 20 minutes.
While checking the rest of the changes, Kaito came across a group of Hellhounds led by Silver. Noticing their serious expressions, Kaito approached.
"Did something happen?"
Silver flinched, startled by how suddenly Kaito appeared. But upon recognizing him, he relaxed.
"My Lord, we explored the east with 20 other Hellhounds. We only found weak races, none worthy of subjugation or that posed a threat.
But... something strange happened."
"Strange?"
"I felt someone watching us. I tried to locate them, but they were hiding very well. So I came back to report it."
Kaito thought in silence.
'What a waste...'
Silver was the strongest. If he pulled back, the others wouldn't know what to do. But since no one besides him could communicate, everyone had to retreat. If they could talk, this wouldn't have happened.
"You don't feel it anymore?"
Silver shook his head. Kaito didn't sense anything either, but wanted to be sure.
"Rest for now. I'll take care of the rest."
The hounds obeyed. But what they didn't know... was that Kaito was secretly following them.
After more than an hour, they returned to their last known location. On the way, they passed through multiple clearly ravaged territories.
Then, another enemy group appeared: creatures resembling foxes, but grotesque in appearance.
They attacked instantly.
But the foxes didn't stand a chance. They were exterminated before Kaito could even analyze what they were.
A notification popped up, but he ignored it completely.
Time passed, and after watching several dull fights, too easy to be interesting, he felt it. His instincts told him someone else was there.
He looked around… nothing. But he followed his intuition and moved closer.
In the treetop, he saw it: a humanoid figure, dark-skinned, pointy ears. Good reflexes, he even sensed Kaito approaching, but it didn't help. Just as he began to turn, a blow sent him flying over ten meters.
His clothes in tatters, he stood up. He was surrounded by Hellhounds.
He took a defensive stance, ready for battle. But the hounds didn't attack.
They parted.
No need to ask who was coming.
He knew instantly: the leader.
And when he saw him… his knees buckled.
A man of unreal beauty, with hair dark as night and eyes glowing like embers.
Just looking into those eyes made him feel like his soul was being analyzed.
But the most terrifying thing wasn't his appearance.
It was his presence.
As a trained agent, he knew how to assess threats.
And this…
This was the most dangerous one he had ever encountered.
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